riverc0il
New member
Holy crap, what a hyjack. Might I suggest a mod edit out everything after the first post as MRG Prricing Discussion or some such topic? :lol:
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2010-11 Ticket Prices
- Thread starter billski
- Start date
Back to the price discussion on everywhere but MRG....
JerseyJoey
New member
When conditions are good, and Eric will clearly let you know when that is (sign up for his daily email reports), there is no better bang for the buck than Mad River Glen.
Our home mountain is Killington as we own real estate there, but I can't remember the last season we haven't spent at least 7 or 8 days at Mad River. Even my kids are crazy about the place, and they will get free season passes there until they're 12, as opposed to Killington starting to charge them for junior passes (in the $700 range) at age 6.
Mad River is about as unique an experience as a ski area can get. If you haven't been, make sure you get there this season when conditions are good. Sign up for Erics daily emails in season and you will know exactly when it is and will be good. No marketing in his snow reports. If it sucks, he'll tell you just that. If it's good, he'll tell you that as well. His reports are the real deal. What you see is what you get.
How can you go wrong when you show up at 9am on a Thurday and a circa 1970's Dark Star is cranking from the lift house at the bottom, and a smokin Help>Slip>Franklins is cranking from the midstation. What's better than that? Go get some!!
Our home mountain is Killington as we own real estate there, but I can't remember the last season we haven't spent at least 7 or 8 days at Mad River. Even my kids are crazy about the place, and they will get free season passes there until they're 12, as opposed to Killington starting to charge them for junior passes (in the $700 range) at age 6.
Mad River is about as unique an experience as a ski area can get. If you haven't been, make sure you get there this season when conditions are good. Sign up for Erics daily emails in season and you will know exactly when it is and will be good. No marketing in his snow reports. If it sucks, he'll tell you just that. If it's good, he'll tell you that as well. His reports are the real deal. What you see is what you get.
How can you go wrong when you show up at 9am on a Thurday and a circa 1970's Dark Star is cranking from the lift house at the bottom, and a smokin Help>Slip>Franklins is cranking from the midstation. What's better than that? Go get some!!
billski
Active member
Collegiate areas are holding their prices flat at last year's rate: Darmouth and Middlebury.
Ragged opted for an 8% increase, while Sunapee went up 3% and Wa-wa went up 4%..
Black Mt. NH took at 15% rise. then again, with one of the lowest rates ($45 on a holiday) in the east for 1000-foot skiing, nobody will blink!
Ragged opted for an 8% increase, while Sunapee went up 3% and Wa-wa went up 4%..
Black Mt. NH took at 15% rise. then again, with one of the lowest rates ($45 on a holiday) in the east for 1000-foot skiing, nobody will blink!
$64 for Ragged this year. hmmmm. I think they were at $59 last year if I recall. I know my Season Pass went up from $329 to $359. The pass remains one of the best values around. Lift tickes is a gamble for them. I think Cannon is $66. That's a lot more mountain for only two bucks more.
polski
New member
Can't help but throw in my $0.02 here.
Having seen you ski DHS, you may well be able to accomplish 2x the skiing in a day. Not me. I've never had a day end at MRG before I'm utterly exhausted, even with 20+ minute lift lines. More often, when not crowded, I'm waving the white flag and quitting before closing time with my quads bursting into flames. And even if it's a peak period I'm skiing with hardly anyone else on the slopes because of the limited uphill capacity - that, to me, is where the unique value lies, well worth the wait in line and the cost even if I were paying full freight.
billski
Active member
From what I see, most destination resorts want you to book in advance, waaay in advance, and bundle in tickets with the deal in many cases. So the variable rates would only affect riff-raff like me who don't decide until the last minute. I think the first stab at variable rates is Liftopia, and resorts are experimenting.
Raising rates really goes against the grain of tried-and-true marketing - you can always discount down, but raising prices is usually a no-no. Kinda like my salary... :-?
riverc0il
New member
+1
I have never had my legs out lines at MRG. Never once have I walked away thinking "if only the lines had been shorter, I could have skied a few more runs..." Plus, MRG lines are amongst the most festive in social lift lines around. 8)
I knew my opinion would be an unpopular one. :lol:
Being critical of the Holy Grail of Eastern Skiing goes over like a fart in church.
My comments were based purely on price vs. infrastructure. That is all. You look at Sugarbush at $82 and see all of the HSQ's and grooming equipment and everything else and then you look at MRG $69 with it's overhead and it doesn't flush up. The mountain is unbelievable. The experience is one of a kind. It's a place I very much love. I guess a car comparison would be buying a cherry 68 Mustang for $40K or a new Audi S4 for $55K. With the Audi it's easier to quanitify what you're paying for.
As for my comment about getting in twice as much skiing at Sugarbush. Somewhat an exageration. Last time I skied MRG, I think I took 11 runs with a couple of those coming off the double chair. I was whipped. But, that took a full day to do. In general, I'm someone who cannot stand liftlines. I'm slightly more tolerant of liftlines at MRG than anywhere else due it's charm, for lack of a better word. That said, I'm at the mountain to ski, not wait in line. Not that I'd EVER want more uphill capacity at MRG as it would trash the conditions way too fast.
Though Rivercoil, I can say my liftline experiences at MRG have not always been pleasant. I believe I started a thread about one experience with the sense of entiltment I encountered by one pass holder there towards day ticket holders. I remember it very well. A guy was there with his young kid. After 20 minutes in line for the single, the kid had to go to the bathroom. He went and came back where his father was holding his place in line. The pass holder demanded that both he and his son go to the back of the line, that it was wrong for him to hold his sons place. Really lady???
Being critical of the Holy Grail of Eastern Skiing goes over like a fart in church.
My comments were based purely on price vs. infrastructure. That is all. You look at Sugarbush at $82 and see all of the HSQ's and grooming equipment and everything else and then you look at MRG $69 with it's overhead and it doesn't flush up. The mountain is unbelievable. The experience is one of a kind. It's a place I very much love. I guess a car comparison would be buying a cherry 68 Mustang for $40K or a new Audi S4 for $55K. With the Audi it's easier to quanitify what you're paying for.
As for my comment about getting in twice as much skiing at Sugarbush. Somewhat an exageration. Last time I skied MRG, I think I took 11 runs with a couple of those coming off the double chair. I was whipped. But, that took a full day to do. In general, I'm someone who cannot stand liftlines. I'm slightly more tolerant of liftlines at MRG than anywhere else due it's charm, for lack of a better word. That said, I'm at the mountain to ski, not wait in line. Not that I'd EVER want more uphill capacity at MRG as it would trash the conditions way too fast.
Though Rivercoil, I can say my liftline experiences at MRG have not always been pleasant. I believe I started a thread about one experience with the sense of entiltment I encountered by one pass holder there towards day ticket holders. I remember it very well. A guy was there with his young kid. After 20 minutes in line for the single, the kid had to go to the bathroom. He went and came back where his father was holding his place in line. The pass holder demanded that both he and his son go to the back of the line, that it was wrong for him to hold his sons place. Really lady???
Bumpsis
Well-known member
I really do love skiing at MRG but the liftlines are a turn off. They may seem infrequent to the regulars who have easy access to the mountain, but quite often when I'm in position to ski MR and the conditions are good, there always are substantial lines. My patience does wear thin after 15 to 20 minutes of shuffling along in line.
This hike in walk up weekend rates actually makes it easier to weigh my options.
This hike in walk up weekend rates actually makes it easier to weigh my options.
andyaxa
New member
Let's not forget to enter Powderhouse into the new season's pricing matrix. Still a five-spot as far as I know.
not sure what "overhead" has to do it. many western ski areas have little to no snowmaking and DO make a ton of money from ski school, f&b and real estate yet are charging $80-90 for lift tickets.
regarding ticket prices, killington last season offered k50 tickets ($50). this season they're calling them k55 bumping the price to $55 (on pre-season ticket purchases of 4-10 days). their weekend ticket price bumped up to $84 ($86 peak) from $82.
btw from k's lift ticket page it says, "If you're planning on skiing or riding at the largest resort in the east for just one day, a single-day lift ticket is your best option." you think ...
skiingsnow
New member
There is no minimum number of tickets you must buy, you can buy just 1 or 2 if you would like.
riverc0il
New member
No worries about popularity, DHS. I just think most folks won't agree with your basis for comparison as it does not capture all of the differences. For example, you don't see a five level monstrosity with a honking missle silo when you drive up to MRG's base area. You see a couple of ski club buildings that have been there for almost or as long as the ski area. In other words, MRG doesn't get a large chunk of revenue from on slope bed base. It also does not get the volume of skiers and riders that the Bush gets. Look at it like Craft beer. Bud is high volume and has a reasonable price whereas better craft beers cost similar or more.... even though their overhead is lower so is their gross revenue and profitability after expenses due to less volume. I don't think an argument about price from the perspective of infrastructure is accounting for all the differences between the two areas.
riverc0il
New member
You have generalized the entire MRG pass holder base due to one ass hole?
I am not a season pass holder and have never seen anything like that.
You generalized the liftline experience. I pointed out one unpleasent experience. Where did I generalize?
riverc0il
New member
I think there is a little bit of a difference between generalizing an entire population on one experience with one representative from that population versus my reporting on probably a hundred or so turns through the Single chair line. Can the Single chair line be downright miserable? I am sure it can be at some time and no doubt there are rude people in this world.
How about we flip it around: how many season pass holders at MRG have you passed that treated you pleasantly or at least did not make your experience worse? Pretty much all but one?
Again, where did I generalize? I did not. You said they have some of the more festive liftlines around or whatever. My point was there are a-holes everywhere, even uber heady MRG. I've skied at MRG probably ten or so times in my life. I haven't walked away from there or anywhere else for that matter and said to myself, wow, I had a lot of fun in the liftline with some of the coolest strangers of any ski area. :???:
We'll agree to disagree.
Here's apples to apples. MRG vs Cannon / Wildcat. All three areas lack any slopeside lodging. Base facilities are minimal (though obviously less at MRG) Cannon has a Tram, HSQ, considerable snowmaking/grooming. Wildcat HSQ and the same with others. They charge $66.
I do think the infrastructure argument is valid. The ONLY reason MRG gets a pass is because of the terrain. If you put the exact same infrastructure at Bolton Valley, a place that averages even more snow than MRG, you'd expect to pay $40.
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